Doctors at the University of Rochester and 39 other medical
centers around the nation have begun a research study to see if a
drug known as a super-aspirin -- an investigational compound made
possible in part by basic medical research during the last decade
at the university -- helps prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Twenty Rochester-area patients will be part of a group of
about 1,300 people nationwide who will be treated with the
experimental drug, which is similar to ibuprofen, naproxen,
aspirin, and other painkillers, but appears to be safer and much
more efficient at squelching pain and inflammation. The first of
the drugs is currently being reviewed for the treatment of
arthritis and may be available next year.

The drugs target cycloxygenase-2 or cox-2, an enzyme in the
body first discovered and cloned by a University team led by Don
Young and Kerry O'Banion. Scientists believe the enzyme is at the
root of the pain and inflammation we feel from a variety of
ailments, including arthritis. Existing painkillers like
ibuprofen and aspirin inhibit both cox-2 and cox-1, a closely
related enzyme. For years physicians believed that knocking out
cox-1 helped patients feel better, but now most doctors believe
that cox-2 is the real pain-causing culprit in many illnesses.
Currently drugs targeting cox-2 are being tested as a way to
treat arthritis more aggressively with fewer side effects, and
they're being looked at as a possible way to prevent colon
cancer.

This study is one of the first to see whether such drugs
might prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease. During the past few
years, O'Banion and others have discovered that cox-2 is active
in the brains of people who have the disease. Though the precise
cause of Alzheimer's disease is still a mystery, scientists
believe the enzyme plays some role in the sickness and death of
brain cells of patients. Since cox-2 inhibitors muck up the
enzyme's activity, they might help protect the brain agains'"/>

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